


Tales of 2814

by anon_nom_nom



Category: Green Lantern (2011)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Post-Movie(s), Training
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-07-31
Updated: 2012-03-17
Packaged: 2017-10-21 19:04:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/228593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anon_nom_nom/pseuds/anon_nom_nom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Various snapshots of Hal Jordan's post-movie life and training.  Ongoing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Demoted to the Peanut Gallery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sinestro trains Hal, and his former teachers find themselves somewhat useless.

"Focus, Jordan."

"I _am_ focused!"

Sinestro's disc hit Hal Jordan in the chest. He skidded backward until he hit a wall.

"If this is what passes for focus in a human, I may have to endanger your planet again. Increase your willpower."

"Willpower, he says," muttered Hal, wiping blood from his mouth. The force of the blow had snapped his teeth on his cheek. "Just summon up more will. It's that easy."

Hauling himself upright against the hard surface, Hal again faced Sinestro, who was waiting impatiently. As they resumed their mock battle, Tomar-Re turned to Kilowog on the sidelines.

"Do you remember Sinestro being this involved with training a student before?"

"Sinestro's never been much for recruits," said Kilowog. "I'd say he feels guilty for driving Jordan off, but we both know that's not true."

"Perhaps he wishes to be sure Jordan accomplishes his potential, now that he realizes he has it," said Tomar-Re.

Frustrated at something Sinestro said, Hal finally snapped. He broke off the battle and started shouting. Sinestro used the opportunity to send him into the wall again.

"You think he's getting close to cracking?" asked Kilowog.

Having cushioned himself with some kind of expanding foam, Hal pulled himself out of it and continued his tirade as though he hadn't been interrupted. This time, he engaged Sinestro while he was doing it, not seeming to realize he was performing slightly better now.

"No," said Tomar-Re. He tilted his head to one side, still watching the battle. "Do you think it's necessary to goad him quite so much?"

Kilowog shrugged. "With no threats around, anger can make you focus. Seems to be working."

"If Jordan begins to hate him, it may prove counterproductive."

"He'll get it or run off again. Or come whine at us."

Sinestro summoned a giant fan to push Hal back into the wall. Standing with his feet at shoulder width and his arms crossed, he seemed more amused than annoyed, especially considering it stopped Hal's yelling. Hal, meanwhile, was trying to fight the rush of air rather than disabling the fan.

"He did have kind of a point, though," said Kilowog.

"Who?"

"Jordan. He was trying to make a metaphor about teaching pilots how the instruments worked before making them fly a ship. Usually we settle down and start actually teaching after we intimidate the poozers."

"I can see a certain merit to Sinestro's approach," said Tomar-Re. "He appears to be accustoming Jordan to using his powers exclusively in battle. He may well devise other tactics later." Blinking, he added, "And Jordan has 'flown the ship' already, and admirably well, when he defeated Parallax."

"Hm," said Kilowog. He seemed to be having trouble not intervening, tense with the desire to give Hal the solution.

However, a moment later, Hal created a wind barrier. As he struggled forward, Sinestro shot a large projectile at it. The shield knocked its owner back into the wall.

Kilowog looked like he was about to jump in, so Tomar-Re headed him off.

"They appear to be busy," he said. "Our assistance is not required. Do you crave sustenance?"

"Yeah," said Kilowog. He relaxed a little. "Let's get some lunch."


	2. True Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new batch of recruits isn't exactly what Hal expected.

"Sinestro," Jordan begged. "Help."

The swarm surged up around him, but Thaal hovered at a safe distance, the dark amusement playing across his face no doubt horrifying his protege. Dropping to the bridge between buildings, he could see Jordan wondering if he'd planned this all along. In truth, he hadn't looked much farther than delivering him here, but all it meant was that this happened now rather than later. They had to be left unsupervised eventually, and Thaal was glad that he was here to watch. It was no more than Jordan deserved.

"Back!" Jordan shouted, and, surprisingly, it worked. The clamoring new recruits, a dozen mismatched replacements for the Green Lanterns Parallax had killed, gave him enough space to breathe. They did not, however, pause their barrage of questions for more than an instant.

"How did you defeat Parallax?" a black and sinuous recruit asked loudly. As this was the gist of all the questions, the others fell silent, staring with various sets of eyes and non-eyes. Jordan seemed to realize he would have to answer the question.

"Um," was what he came up with. "I flew into a sun. Parallax followed. It really wasn't that amazing or—"

"You could not have survived," sneered a tall, rough-skinned one standing farther back. "Not unless humans have evolved the ability to live inside stars in the last few years."

There was a general snickering, and Jordan took a second to decide what to do about it.

"Well, it was just the corona," said Jordan. "Sinestro rescued me. I kind of expected to die. In fact, you should all go worship the one who's actually been a Lantern for more than five minutes—"

"But Parallax killed thirty-eight billion, four hundred seventy-seven million, two hundred eleven thousand, two hundred ninety-one people!" Someone was obviously splurging on the knowledge the ring provided. "He wiped out seven whole planets! How did you overcome your fear?"

"Er," said Jordan. "The dead hadn't been counted yet at the time, but—"

Kilowog's arrival from above interrupted, thumping down in the middle of the group to scatter them, a few into the air. Fortunately, this saved Thaal from having to forestall Jordan from sharing his ill-advised former method of overcoming fear.

"You were supposed to be in the training room ten minutes ago," he said to the now-sheepish recruits, whom he then herded toward the general training area with admonishments about tight groups creating single targets.

"Jordan," said Thaal, stopping Hal from going with them.

"Yeah?"

Several of the others stopped to watch. Kilowog barked an order at them, and they disappeared into a hallway. Jordan looked after them for a moment, then returned his attention to Thaal.

"What?" he asked, and Thaal realized his expression was more intent than usual.

"Nothing," he said, turning toward the building on the opposite side of the bridge. "Follow me."

Jordan managed to do so without asking questions.

"You did that on purpose," he whined instead, accusatory as they passed into the secondary training structure. "You could have defeated Parallax yourself, but made me do it so you didn't have to deal with the fanclub."

Thaal narrowed his eyes as they walked, not looking at Jordan, who chose that moment to remember that the battle had held personal significance for him.

"Oh," said Jordan, then proceeded to it worse. "Right. Sorry. Um, I didn't mean to.... Sorry."

"I am not certain the best approach with them was self-deprecation," said Thaal, ignoring him.

"The cadets?" asked Jordan. "If you have any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear it. Or if you decided to help...."

"What action would you have had me take?" asked Thaal with a curious sideward glance.

"I don't know, using your intimidation powers on them." Jordan waved his fingers to indicate mystic abilities.

"I hold those in reserve."

"Only use it on unworthy species; I see," said Jordan, nodding in a parody of sage understanding. It was annoying, how quickly the human had figured out when Thaal was teasing. "Hey, where'd Tomar-Re go? I haven't seen him or trained with Kilowog for awhile."

"I've spoken with the Guardians," said Sinestro. "They agreed that I should take over your training, as you seem distracted by the other recruits."

"It's not my fault!" objected Jordan. Then it sunk in. "Wait, you didn't want to ask me first?"

"Not particularly."

"It would have been polite."

"You have no say in the matter. It would have been pointless."

Jordan seemed to be working up to something, then subsided.

"I guess you already took over anyway," he said. "You did say you were 'taking me to train.' Sometime, you need to teach me to be that vague. I don't get how you did it with a translator in the way."

"The same essential information is omitted," said Thaal, pushing open the door to a tall, massive room of obstacles and sweeping pillars. Top to bottom, it was thickly honeycombed with irregular structures facing in all directions.

"Wow," said Hal. "What is this?"

"If your description of the battle was accurate," said Thaal, "you injured your shoulder by flying into an asteroid. This room teaches maneuverability and flightpath efficiency."

A few other Lanterns whipped through the obstacles. One slammed sideways into a strut and had to be caught by his partner, but Jordan didn't flinch.

"Are the other recruits learning this?" he asked.

"Not yet," said Thaal. "Why?"

"Evasion," said Jordan with a grin, and he was off.


	3. Truant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blah, computer died and took the sketches for the rest of this series with it. Here's what I recovered.

Hal Jordan was missing.

Though its owner failed to respond to an alert in his sector, the ring was located on Earth. Tomar-Re had offered to pick him up, as he was closer, but Thaal wanted to be less understanding than his Xudarian colleague was likely to be. While it was possible that Jordan had a good explanation, his erratic behavior indicated that a reason was unnecessary.

Alighting on a balcony outside the structure where he'd detected Jordan, Thaal took a moment to decipher and unlock the door's simple latch with a hard light hook. Predawn light reflecting in the glass, it rumbled quietly in its tracks as he slid it open and shut behind him. 

Inside, he used a bright globe construct to illuminate an outer room of soft seats and hard tables, scattered about with detritus of a human life. Books and other printed publications sat alongside apparently-useless decorations. Black shadows shifted around the construct's green light, except where a lantern battery glowed softly from the center of a low table.

One of the room's integrated electrical circuits could be closed by a switch on the wall, sending current though the vacuum-and-resistor light sources humans seemed to favor. With bulbs from several angles banishing the dark, he let the globe disappear.

Flat, straight walls enclosed short corridors that led him to a hinged door, ajar. Light pressure moved it out of his way, revealing a sleeping area. Springs, foam, cushions, and loose textile coverings swathed Jordan and a female companion. As Thaal had suspected, Jordan was uninjured.

Locating this room's conveniently-placed switch, just below shoulder level like the others, he flipped it upward. Both occupants groaned.

"Jordan."

Removing his arm from around the other human, he attempted to burrow deeper into the bed, pulling a cushion over his head. Stepping around the room's obstacles, Thaal tried to pull the cushion away from him. A brief, stultifying tug-of-war ensued. Really, it was like dealing with a child. This was exactly why decadent sleeping areas were a bad idea.

Finally, Thaal let go and used a pincer construct to haul Jordan bodily out of bed. Blankets fell away to confirm his lack of injury by visual inspection, made easier by the amount of skin exposed by his flimsy pugilist's garment.

"Jordan," he said, annoyed, "you are neglecting you duty. A ship has gone adrift and requires your guidance."

"They have power and life support," Jordan complained, still holding a cushion as Thaal dropped him to his feet. "They're nowhere dangerous. I figured they could survive for another few hours."

"A Lantern does not make others wait so he may oversleep and engage and in social liaisons," said Thaal.

The heating system engaged with a distant whir while Jordan's feeble brain awakened enough to grasp his situation; he tossed the cushion back to the bed. Thaal narrowed his eyes and began preparing a lecture for when the ship was out of danger.

"I haven't overslept," Jordan finally said, fumbling for his redundant human clothing. "And I'll have you know, 'liaisons' are good for human mental health."

He sat on the bed to pull his shirt on over his jeans. The woman wrapped the bed coverings around herself and evaluated Thaal with one eye closed.

"Hal," she said. "Is there an alien in my bedroom?"

"Yeah," said Jordan, leaning over to kiss her head. "Sorry, my fault. Go back to sleep."

"This is not your home?" asked Thaal. He'd _thought_ there was too much reading material.

"Um, no," said Jordan. Tying up his boots, he glanced at the other human, who had not gone back to sleep. "This is Carol Ferris. She's my oldest friend. Carol, this is Thaal Sinestro, my...."

Thaal watched Jordan sift through the Oan Central Computer in an attempt to come up with an English equivalent for their relationship.

"Mentor? Master? Something like that."

"And he's here because...."

"Your paramour failed to respond to a distress signal earlier this morning," Thaal answered. Jordan seemed done with his overly complicated footwear. "Are you finished?"

"Just need to charge my ring, then we can go," said Jordan, shrugging into a leather jacket. It was becoming clear why Jordan took so long to respond to summons. "Bye, Carol. Sorry again."

"You need to get your apartment back," said Carol, slumping to the bed.

"Find me a job that doesn't require me to be anywhere or do anything," retorted Jordan. 

"You have a vocation," said Thaal, crossing his arms, "which you are currently ignoring."

"Right, yes," said Hal with a last wave for his lover. Somehow, he managed to take the lead out of the apartment, pausing to charge his ring in the battery in a flash of light. He yawned. "So I'm not allowed to sleep during non-urgent emergencies?"

"You can sleep afterward," said Thaal, opening the sliding door.

"On a scale of one to ten, how pissed are you at me?"

"Merely irritated, lucky for you," said Thaal. He thought over the last few minutes as Jordan followed him toward the stars. "Why did you apologize for me?"

"It's generally considered impolite to open doors without knocking. And you usually don't go into somebody else's bedroom unless you're... involved. Romantically."

This cast a disturbing light on a few of their interactions.

"Your quarters, then...?"

"Nah," said Jordan just before they left the atmosphere. "Quarters are different from your personal home."

As they accelerated toward the adrift ship, Thaal realized this explained distinction a lot about the human Lantern's difficulty understanding his role. He altered his lecture to include an explanation of the difference between vocation and occupation.

This wasn't just a job.


End file.
